The Heir of Berk
by Bubblekins1010
Summary: Hiccup wasn't much liked by the village, many of them, including Hiccup thought that Snotlout would eventually become heir. But even so, all his life, Hiccup was still the official heir and as such he was still a target.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Hiccup wasn't much liked by the village, many of them, including Hiccup thought that Snotlout would eventually become heir. But even so, all his life, Hiccup was still the official heir and as such he was still a target.

I don't own How to Train Your Dragon, nor anything associated with it. I simply love whump, torture, assassination attempts, kidnappings, poisonings, ect. (*Ambur covers author's mouth*, *muffled*and thus this idea wouldn't leave me alone, even though I'm not the best at writing any of these things…*muffled*.)

So I present…

Heir to Berk

Chapter 1

Hiccup Haddock III was a scrawny child, thin as a toothpick, and called a nuisance to the majority of the village due to his tendency to be invisibly underfoot, and always, always being clumsy, both in normal actions such as walking, or in other things such as his inventing. For an almost five-year-old he was short, shorter than all the other children his age, especially his older, meaner cousin Snotlout.

Like many tribes with enemies did, after the announcement of Hiccup's birth to their allies there was little said about the young heir. When allies visited the island, he was introduced then sent to play – usually with the single, or in the case of tribes where the chief had multiple children, the most similarly aged, heir from the other tribe. Thus, through this practice the existence of the small boy was concealed from enemy eyes. However, in the archipelago, where death was an accident or a dragon raid away, five was a special number, and one to be celebrated.

And, so, despite the fact that Hiccup was sometimes the person in the village most stressful to his father, he was still heir and Stoick, along with the majority of the village hadn't yet given up hope that he was a growth-spurt and a day away from bulking up and becoming a warrior in training. Thus, for his fifth birthday, there was a celebration. The leaders of other tribes were invited, and Hiccup's birthday was celebrated on the twenty-eighth, since it wasn't a leap year.

"Why are we celebrating _his _birthday dad?" Snotlout asked his father bratishly, his foot stomping and his chubby arms crossed. Not that it did much for him in the crowded mead hall. "Everyone knows he's a weakling, and that _I'm _eventually going to be the chief instead of him."

Spitelout, despite the pride at the idea of his son eventually becoming the chief, and showing up his brother-in-law – for now at least Hiccup was the heir, and he and Hiccup were also cousins. "Now Snotlout – five is a big number, especially for the heir to the throne. Perhaps one day he won't be, but for now, he is the chief's son, and the heir. It would do you well to have a little respect."

Snotlout huffed and stomped away from his dad to the twins. "Respect? Humph."

Across the room Hiccup and Fishlegs were sitting on a bench. Both were about as shy as the other which allowed them to overall be perfectly comfortable talking with each other.

"And then the twins got the scolding of a lifetime. I've never heard my dad yell so loud!" Hiccup exclaimed animatedly. Fishlegs laughed at the thought, knowing Stoick had to have been loud considering Hiccup was on the loud end of many scolding's over the years. His father had a difficult time giving him the attention he wanted in the form he needed, but Hiccup never ceased to have a high opinion and admiration of his father. Fishlegs was one of the few who regularly saw this animated, not shy Hiccup.

"Oh yeah, and do you know what they did?" Fishlegs asked, just an animated. Hiccup shook his head.

"I heard something about yaks, sheep, and a raid, but I don't understand." Hiccup explained. The twins were already difficult to deal with in the village, so a majority of the chaos was them, despite only being about five and a half.

"They set half of silent Sven's sheep on fire, making Sven think it was a dragon raid, and then used them as targets for catapulting yaks. I hear Sven silently demanded retribution from the twins and they're going to have to clean the barn for a month." Fish informed.

Hiccup giggled.

"Young Hiccup."

Hiccup turned from Fishlegs, recognizing the voice. It was one he both liked and dreaded.

"Mr. Oswald." Hiccup greeted politely. He liked Oswald The Agreeable, he had always been very kind to Hiccup, and sometimes even brought him a gift or two, he was similar to a grandfather figure for Hiccup. It was his son he couldn't stand. And since it was always his job to keep Dagur out of trouble, it also made dread well up inside him when he saw Oswald. Dagur was worse than Snotty, which was saying something.

"I wanted to wish you a happy birthday and many more to come." Oswald said. Then he knelt in front of Hiccup and brought out a box. It was a simple brown and Hiccup carefully took it. He opened it with Fish leaning meekly over his shoulder. Inside was a dagger, which had a handle made of what had to be dragon bone and a blade that gleamed silver.

"It's got a dragon bone handle, and a blade forged from the spines of a razor whip. Strong, durable, and I hope it will serve you well young one." Oswald said with a smile.

Hiccup stared at it open mouthed. Razor whips were rare, and getting an intact spine, let alone forging it was incredibly difficult. A lot went into this dagger and he was amazed. After a few moments more of staring Hiccup realized Oswald was still waiting. He awkwardly cleared his throat, then smiled.

"Thank you very much Mr. Oswald."

"I'm very glad you like it."

Hiccup looked back at the dagger it gleamed strongly in the fire light and he found he couldn't take his eyes from it as Oswald walked away.

"That's so cool Hiccup." Fish said, looking at it too as Hiccup turned back. Beside them on the table was their dinner. Hiccup put the dagger on the table between them and both boys picked at their dinner.

Over the night Hiccup received several gifts, an axe – which he couldn't lift even an inch, though even Astrid – who was training crazy had trouble lifting it much. He also received a sketchbook from Gobber, and a pencil made from a piece of wood that would hold charcoal. His father had given him a small wooden training sword, and told him he would be apprenticing with Gobber now. He also got a few small toys, a maces and talons game board with figurines that had precious gems around the bases, and a figurine of a yak.

Hiccup went to bed, flattered at the positive attention, and happy with the outcome of the night. In the influx of people entering the village, no one noticed the two men that had snuck in. They had no symbols. The only sign of what had happened was the bloody dagger driven into the headboard with a ransom note, and the flag Stoick found draped across Hiccup's bed when he went to wake him up for breakfast.

Hiccup came to slowly. He remembered masked men standing over him, pushing something against his face.

_Hiccup heard the movement of fabric and opened his eyes, assuming it was his father to check on him._

"_Da-"_

_He stopped, as a hard hand nearly smashed his nose shoving a cloth against his face. In a gasp of pain, he smelled something sweet, and suddenly felt dizzy. Frightened Hiccup tried to struggle his terror fueling him that he could barely move one of the hands holding him. There was a second man he finally noticed, who was pushing him down almost painfully against the hard wooden bed._

"_Come on boy, breath in and it will all be over. We don't want to hurt you." One of them said, almost soothingly. But Hiccup didn't, instead, thinking fast he bit the hand over his face, and throbbing nose, and in the surprise of the action all three hands left on him loosened just enough for his skinny body to slip away._

"_DAD!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. There was a small thud downstairs, likely of his father rolling out of bed – literally. Behind him the man with the cloth grabbed him from behind and shoved it back over his mouth and nose. Hiccup struggled fiercely, and noticed the brown box on his bedside table. One hand lunged for it, and he managed to fumble the dagger out of the box. Downstairs there was the sound of footsteps._

"_Knock 'im out! We can't let anyone know yet!" the other guy whispered urgently. Hiccup meanwhile couldn't resist the urge to breath and in a last-ditch effort he tried to stab the guy behind him in the leg. Just a little longer and his daddy would save him. The man squealed nearly silently in pain as the blade went nearly an inch in. Impressive for a five-year-old if he had to say so himself._

_The man jerked as Hiccup lost consciousness, and the blade slipped out. It pierced young flesh and as the child fell the dagger dug deep._

_The pain managed to jolt him for a moment, before it erased its own effect and his eyes rolled back into his head._

"_Take out the knife and put 'im back in bed till the dad's gone. Hurry!"_

Thus, he ended up here. Wherever 'here' ended up being. However, it felt like a boat, and he was in some kind of cell, with wooden bars and a single porthole window too high for him to reach. His stomach roiled, and he tried to get up, but the pain in the side of his abdomen stopped him as blood seeped anew from the deep wound. He found that his tunic was gone, and the wound had been wrapped in tight layered bandages. It hurt. Breathing hurt worse, as tears slid down his cheeks.

_Shallow breath in, shallow breath out…_ He thought to himself, trying to calm, to breath, to lessen the pain. He attempted to breath only in his chest and not move his abdomen, but tensing the muscles to stop it from moving was making it hurt too. And it hurt so very badly. He gently and instinctually pressed his tiny left hand against the bandages right over the wound. There were a few pieces under the wrappings, but it didn't do too much. He had seen that after dragon raids, when someone had a wound that bled a lot, pushing on it helped. And maybe, just maybe it would make it hurt less.

Carefully he pushed. Blood squelched from the soaked bandages, pooling around his fingers and staining his tiny hand red. Beads of blood slid down his arm and he sobbed. This was bad, awful. He was so hurt – a lot of blood was gone. He had seen older more Viking like Vikings die like this, laying there bleeding. And Gothi, going through the carnage would just shake her head sadly at some and at others she or her medics would treat the wounded they could save.

He sucked in heavy breaths trying to calm down before he had a full breakdown, and to calm his abdomen which was burning with fierce pain.

Suddenly he was brought out of his panic by the sound of a door slamming somewhere away from where he was. As this happened his stomach announced it's displeasure at the situation again, and unable to do anything else he managed to turn his head as far to one side as he could before anything in his stomach was suddenly out of it. The substance smelled awful and slid down his cheek and pooled beside his head.

Down the hall two men were talking. "You had better not let the boy die. We need him alive. Otherwise his precious father isn't going to pay us the ransom. Not to mention we'd probably end up at war."

"I know sir… The bleedin' had slowed when me and my brother left, we bandaged it. And once we get ta port in a few hours we can 'ave a healer look at 'im."

"I hope you're right, because if something happens and the boy dies I can assure you that you'll be next."

"Yes sir…"

The men came to a stop in front of the cell, and they looked at the tiny heir. The man in charge glared at the damages, and turned away.

"Fix this." He said on the way out.

The man, who Hiccup recognized vaguely as one of the men who kidnapped him stared for a moment before, terrified, he entered the cell, not bothering to close the door. "I wish you hadn't struggled boy." He said as he knelt beside the child and removed the tiny bloodied hand. He put down a satchel that Hiccup hadn't noticed before, and pulled out a fresh roll of bandages. There was no warning as next he swiftly pulled Hiccup into a sitting position.

Hiccup cried out as severe pain shot through his whole middle. Fresh tears pricked his eyes and he wanted to just cry. To let it all out. But if he did he knew his abdomen would hurt more. He couldn't handle it, it already hurt too much. The man removed the old bandages wrapped around his torso and Hiccup risked a glance down at the leftover square bandages. The padding was soaked through with blood and he could see the edge of the hole slowly welling with blood and spilling down. Obviously, it wasn't done bleeding. Worriedly, the man looked at the same thing while Hiccup felt himself going faint at the sight of his injury.

His vision blurred into one multicolored blob of a world, and he felt the bandages being shifted above the wound which hurt so bad. Then the pain multiplied exponentially, and Hiccup squirmed, trying to get away, and accidentally biting his tongue as he fought. The man was shoving the bandage in, shoving it deep into the wound, probably trying to stop the bleeding but it _hurt_!

"S-s-_stop _…! P-please! _S-stop it_!" He cried, weakly trying to shove the hand away, to get away, something. But the attack was easily ignored, and the man shoved it deeper, while Hiccup continued his struggle, weakening as the pain continued to assault him.

Finally, as the man pressed a fresh square over the stuffed wound and wrapped it Hiccup sobbed quietly, his side throbbing something fierce as he was laid back out and left. Half unconscious, sobbing.

It was awful, and the pain wouldn't let him sleep either. He wasn't all the way unconscious and he couldn't find any way to make the pain better. It had to have been at least two hours before he heard a familiar voice.

"By Thor's mighty hammer…GOTHI!" The door to the cell opened and uneven steps hurried to his side, kneeling and placing a soothing hand on his arm. Hiccup couldn't see through the tears and the blur from his pain, but he could hear and recognize Gobber's voice and uneven gait.

"Uncl' Gob'r…I-it… It _hurts_…"

"Shhhhh, it's okay Hiccup, don't waste your strength talkin'. We brought Gothi and your father's takin' care 'a the men who took you." Gobber said, moving his hand to rub Hiccup's head. Behind him Gothi went around to Hiccup's right side to gain access to the wound. In a flurry of hand signals – which Gothi only used in the most urgent of situations, Gobber understood what he needed to do. "Hiccup, it's going to hurt, but I have to sit you up." He said, then detached the hook on his arm and put it in Hiccup's mouth. "Bite it – it'll keep you from biting your tongue off."

With that Gobber lifted him and Hiccup bit down hard on the hook. It hurt his teeth, but his poor already bitten tongue at least was safe. As Gothi unwrapped the bandages, she glared down at the obvious situation. She peeled back the top bandage carefully, much to Hiccups dismay as it pulled, the amounts of dried blood making it stick. Apparently, the man's job of stuffing the wound had worked, since there was very little flow anymore. Gothi however glared long and hard at the wound and finally with a grim frown signaled to Gobber.

"You have to pull it out?" Gobber asked worriedly. "Won't that make him bleed more?"

Gothi nodded and pulled a small sewing kit specifically meant for sewing wounds. _I'll have to close the organs and then the skin wound_ she motioned. The unsigned part was _it's going to hurt a lot_.

Gobber nodded and used his most reassuring voice he had. "Hiccup, Gothi has to sew you up… Inside and out…"

"No… Please no…" Hiccup mumbled, almost incoherent as the hook dropped from his mouth. "No more… _It hurts_."

Gobber felt his heart cracking at those words. He and Hiccup had been close since the child had been born, and since he had proved to be different Gobber had learned to embrace Hiccup's differences – _well_, most of them anyways – and they were very close. When Stoick was too busy, Gobber and the forge was where Hiccup went, not wanting to be alone, and not much liked in his age group because of his differences. Fact was when he heard Hiccup was missing Gobber had been right with Stoick when he had called out about the rescue mission, and thanks to their combined efforts they had managed to find the ship and intercept it with a port just a ways in the distance.

"Hiccup – please just let Gothi do her job, and I promise it'll feel better after." Gobber said.

Hiccup nodded weakly, and Gobber replaced the hook while Gothi took that as her queue to work.

It took a week before Hiccup was able to move around, and even then, it was only a move from Gothi's hut, to his own home, and he was on bed rest again. In that time, Snotlout had even gone to the lengths to see him. No one with so little as a sneeze was allowed to see him, because he had gotten an infection and the last thing he needed was a head cold. Gothi'd had to sew up a few internal items, and then the skin to keep the blood in and allow him to live long enough to heal.

Things were returning to normal, finally. Though if Snotlout hit softer and complained less, Hiccup wasn't going to kick a gift yak in the mouth.

The tribe that had tried to hold him for ransom had been properly _talked to_, and overall, they likely wouldn't try something again. At least not for a while. They didn't know when, how, or who would try to hurt or kidnap Hiccup next, but they did know one thing.

Hiccup's name was out there, people other than select allies knew of his existence and as such it was bound to happen again.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello all, back again. Same disclaimer as last time applies.

With that I present….

Heir to Berk

Chapter 2

It was the end of winter, and Berk along with some allies were having a feast on the remainders of their stored food, which wouldn't last much longer before it was inedible, even to the pallets of Vikings. It was also a bit of a celebration, of making it through another long hard winter, and that was why the location changed each year, and several tribes would come together, bringing most of their food storage with them. Basically, the Viking version of a potluck.

This year it was in Berk, and Stoick was at the head of the table talking with some other chiefs. There were empty seats beside most of the adults and the heirs were off playing or in some cases sitting quietly. Hiccup and the other children of Berk were ten, and while the other heirs played, Hiccup sat off to the side with Fishlegs.

"Uhm… Aren't you technically supposed to be in there?" Fish asked.

"Technically." Hiccup agreed. Despite being one of the youngest from the group of heirs around the archipelago, he was often tasked with keeping the chaos to a minimum. Thus, when he sat out, everything _usually_ went kapoolie. "But it shouldn't be my job to keep an eye on all of them; and anyways, it's not like the older ones will listen to me anyways." He argued firmly.

Fish shrugged and after a few minutes he left and went to talk to someone else. A few years ago, Fishlegs would have stayed the whole event, but the two had grown apart, as Hiccup became the village screwup, and annoying runt, and Fish was desperate not to be grouped the same. Hiccup had brought it up before, and his genius mind had already assumed that eventually Fish wouldn't be his friend at all anymore.

After a while Hiccup got bored of watching Dagger and the other troublemakers planning chaos, and he went back to sit with his dad. Most of the food, which was generally 'whatever soup', was already served up and people were starting to eat. As he sat down a drunken Viking he didn't recognize, likely someone from another tribe, bumped his seat. The man boomed an apology and moved on.

Ready to eat, and see how fast he could escape the crowded, noisy event, Hiccup quickly ate his soup. It tasted bitter in some bites, and he figured it was probably Snotty's doing – that he had put something bad tasting in his food. _Again._

"Dad, may I be excused?" Hiccup asked politely. He found that politeness typically got him what he wanted. That and a hint of respect, flavored in a dash of cute sweetness. "It's okay if you say no… But I'm kind of not feeling good." He added. Which was completely the truth. If his dad wanted him to sit through the night, he would – unhappily, but he would nonetheless. And he was starting to feel unwell. As usual, the constant noise was hurting his head by now and his mouth was starting to tingle weird, and he just wasn't feeling very good. Something in the soup must be disagreeing with him.

Stoick seemed to think about it for a moment before he finally nodded. "Alright Hiccup. You can go home, ask Gobber to make sure ye'a arrive safe and to tell me so." He finally said.

Hiccup nodded and slid out of his chair. He was skinny enough that he didn't have to move it out as he slid between his chair and the one beside it. He easily spotted the already intoxicated Gobber and slid his way through the crowd, feeling worse as his stomach gave off some painful twangs. He saw that Gobber was regaling some of the visiting Vikings with the story of his lost limbs.

"-and he must've told all his friends how tasty I was, because it wasn't a month-"

Should he really disturb Gobber. Certainly, he had told the story a thousand times and Hiccup nodded and showed enjoyment no matter how many times he heard it, since it was Gobber… But he rarely got to tell people who didn't know. But his dad _did_ say…

"-my leg!"

Hiccup was hopeful but doubtful he was done and so with a determination he slunk through the crowd, unable to push because of his size and managed to make it to Gobber.

"Uncle Gobber…?"

"Hmmm? Hiccup? What's wrong?" Gobber asked, as soon as he saw him making his way for him. Hiccup would rarely have any reason good enough to get into the middle of a loud focused crowd, and the lad looked awfully pale.

"I'm not feeling good… Can you… Can you take me home please?"

"O'course Hiccup. I'll get ya home safe 'n sound!" Gobber exclaimed, his lisp much more prominent as intoxicated as he was. Gobber stood up, a little unsteady, but sober enough he evened out and only made a short misstep or two before he placed a warm comforting hand on Hiccup's back and helped him through the thick crowd. On their way out, Hiccup saw one of the troublemaker plans in action as several of the older kids had a bottle of something they weren't supposed to have in a corner. Gobber saw where he was looking to and shook his head.

"I can deal with them after I let your father know you're home." Gobber said, easing Hiccup back into walking. With a nod, Hiccup cast their stupid behavior out of his mind and allowed Gobber to guide him home.

They made it there and Gobber made sure Hiccup made it up the large and high stairs to his room safely before leaving after telling him that he didn't have to go to the forge if he didn't feel better. Hiccup laid down in his bed and covered up, curling into himself as his stomach gave another jolt of pain.

Whatever Snotty had put into his food must be doing this… And it was awful. If he were in the revenge business, then Snotty would have it coming. But he wasn't, he didn't care to get revenge in most cases and typically didn't really get back for anything against anyone. He went to sleep, or at least tried, it was a little hard with his mouth numb and his stomach giving him piercing pains every minute or two.

The next morning Hiccup woke up to his dad's snoring. His stomach was still in pain, jolting and burning as he moved at all. In the back of his throat he could feel nausea creeping into the unbearable levels while at the other end he didn't feel well either. Overall, he felt awful. With a jolt he jumped out of bed and headed for the nearest pail at which to empty his stomach. Only some came up – most of his soup had probably been digested already and as he finished he noticed it was mostly acid. Meaning he had digested that gross stuff that had probably been making him sick, great…

Wiping his chin with a nearby rag he went downstairs and looked quietly through the cupboards for some bread. He found a couple of pieces that were in decent condition and pulled off the moldy parts, then he headed back to his room to try to eat and sleep.

This proved to be a bad idea as his stomach lurched again as he was half asleep and he wasn't fast enough to do more than roll off his bed, making a hard THUMP on the wooden floor. This thump however must've alerted his dad, because he heard the sound of him moving around downstairs. Which for a man of Stoick's… Vastness, wasn't too hard to hear, even in his awful state.

Hiccup slowly pushed himself up groaning and taking deep breaths as he sat against his bed. His puddle of stomach acid smelled strongly, making his already returning well of nausea worse.

_Ugh, can this get any worse? _He thought to himself, then quickly rethought, _Actually, Thor, please, please, please don't answer that. Because you always seem to find something worse that can happen to me._

Hiccup groaned as he laid back down on his other side, curled around his stomach and feeling so much worse. His vision doubled and blurred as he tried to get to the stairs so he could maybe crawl down them. He was halfway up when one of his legs spasmed painfully and he collapsed back to the ground, no farther than where he had began. The room in front of him kept moving in and out of focus as he lay there, hoping that if his father noticed the noises he was making or his absence and that he could help him feel better. Him and his dad had a shaky relationship, but he was still his dad, and Hiccup really wanted some comfort.

Without trying he fell asleep, in a position that was likely not all that comfortable, and he was asleep for a while before his dad found him, curled on the floor gasping and vomit several feet away. When he felt arms pull him from the hard ground Hiccup woke halfway, his blurry vision only able to see the bushy beard above.

"D-Da-" Hiccup tried to speak, but his throat felt half closed off and swollen.

"Don' Worry son, I'll get you to Gothi, she'll know what to do." Stoick said hurriedly and Hiccup shivered as he felt the cold morning air hit him. It was just getting light and not many villagers were out yet. He felt terribly lightheaded as the village seemed to fly by in a blur, but he had no way to know if it was the speed they were traveling at or his spinning vision that made it seem to fast.

Either way, before he knew it, they had made it to Gothi's hut and suddenly his eyes opened – when had he even closed them? – to the old woman glaring down at him, fingers pressing expertly against his wrist. She frowned deeply, and Hiccup heard her sifting through her supplies across the room, urgently collecting what she needed.

His father was beside him and he felt a large worn hand take his own partially numb one.

"What's wrong with him?"

He heard a vial slam down onto the table beside him and he half flinched at it, but a moment later his father gripped his hand tighter.

"Poison? Are you sure?"

Another moment and he heard his father take a deep breath to calm. There was no more talking after that, or at least not that Hiccup heard, which he may not have been hearing anything because even the clanking on glasses and vials slowly muted into distant noises even though they were still happening on the table he knew was close to the patient bed he was on.

He became less and less aware of what was going on around him for quite a while. Until of course something bitter and terrible tasting that had a hint of something even nastier than the bitter flavor was trickled into his mouth. He choked against it but he was sat up a bit and his mouth held closed, until finally instinct dictated he swallow it. The nasty liquid left his mouth but the taste lingered.

Stoick watched his son as he coughed and choked for about five seconds until finally he took a deep breath. Not a wheezing gasp that he had been doing for the last half hour since he'd found him, but a deep relieved breath. Hiccup's airways seemed to unblock and Stoick felt as though he could finally breath as well.

Gothi motioned to the rest of the bottle of medicine she had made and wrote in the dirt she kept in her house for communication.

'Give one gulp every hour until it's gone. The poison should be neutralized by then.'

"Of course, thank you Gothi." Stoick said gratefully. Gothi stoppered the bottle and handed it to Stoick. The father removed his cape and wrapped his small son in it before lifting him in his arms and taking the bottle from Gothi. Then with a nod and another thanks he left for home at a more sedate pace than before. When they got home, he placed Hiccup in his bed and then after he was sure that his son was comfortable and sleeping well, he went to clean up the floor upstairs.

That evening Hiccup woke up feeling still a little sick, but much much better than he remembered. He blinked groggily, and clenched his left hand, as the last thing he remembered had been his dad holding it. He clutched nothing but the fur cape his father normally wore, and he felt a sense of loss at the vanished contact.

After a few minutes Hiccup tried to sit up, but found that his arms were much to shaky, and his lungs burned at any kind of exertion. He also found that any kind of movement made him feel alarmingly lightheaded.

Suddenly loud heavy footfalls alerted him to his father coming near, he turned his head slowly towards the noise and saw his father looking relieved.

"Dad…?"

"Hiccup, son, I'm so glad you're alright." He said sitting on a tiny stool that must've been by the bed, which creaked and squealed under him.

"Wha… What happened?" Hiccup asked slowly.

Stoick looked down for a moment before looking back at Hiccup and answering.

"You were poisoned son. I don't know who did it or how, but when I find out I promise to set out just punishment." He said, grabbing Hiccup's tiny hand in his own and hoping the promise of vengeance would help Hiccup feel more at ease.

Hiccup however did not feel more at ease, he assumed that whatever had been put in his soup was what made him sick, and his main suspect was Snotty. And as much as he knew this would probably get him to stop a majority of his awful behavior towards him Hiccup didn't think he wanted to get Snotlout into that much trouble. So he simply nodded, knowing that if he spoke there was a good chance he would give away that he knew something.

He didn't like Snotlout, but he wasn't sure what his father would do if he found out. They were still family after all. After a few minutes Stoick stood up and got him some water and his last dose of medicine. Then after it had had time to settle Stoick fed him some broth that the Thorston matriarch had brought over.

And meanwhile outside one of the windows a man cursed and walked away. Had someone at the chief table seen him in the light they might have realized it was the drunken man that had nearly toppled over the young Berkian heir.

::FIN::

And there's that chapter! YAYS! I'm so glad I finished it! Also, in case you're wondering I used rhododendron as the poison. I figured it seemed reasonable to be able to acquire as a poison in the time and place. Anywho, the next chapter is the last one and is set at the edge!

Till next time!

Bubblekins1010


	3. Chapter 3

Heir to Berk

Chapter 3

This was _stupid_. Whoever thought that him and Snotlout should spend two hours a week together for the next six months – or possibly more – was _stupid_. Of course, since it was the elder council, which included his dad and Gobber – though he liked to think that Gobber had objected – he wasn't going to state his opinion to anyone.

Except maybe Snotlout.

And Gothi since she seemed to think it was as stupid as he did.

Snotlout, didn't seem too pleased at the arrangement either, but seeing as he was next to be heir when Hiccup eventually either stepped down or was forced from the position, it would be beneficial to him. And if by some miracle Hiccup actually stayed heir, Snotlout would likely end up being one of his advisors as the next in line for heirship.

Hicup realized this, but Snotlout didn't think of it that way, he simply thought of it as an insult to have to spend time with his cousin. This, Hiccup knew, would most likely bode badly for him.

Gothi came in looking very stern. Quite possibly since Snotlout regularly sent Hiccup to her for treatment. Gothi wrote something in the dirt pad within her hut and Hiccup with some trial, error, and a couple of whacks managed to translate it.

"Rhododendron." Hiccup said. "It causes progressive symptoms that at the latest stage must be treated at the same time as the poison."

"Poison?" Snotlout asked.

"Yes Snotlout. In case you didn't remember this is meant to be a course on poisons and basic first aid."

Snotlout grumbled, "This is girl's stuff!"

_WHACK_!

OoOoO

"And then I said- 'Well, if you wanted your sheep you shoulda put a leash on it'!"

Tuff laughed, and Ruff nearly knocked the pan off the cooking fire. Astrid rolled her eyes in the corner and Fish just managed to save the pan of food. Hiccup was in the corner meanwhile, snacking on some dried berries Yohan had procured from some more southernly provinces.

"What are you eating?" Snotlout asked loudly, stomping over and taking one. "Eww – it's sour! You like this stuff?"

Hiccup sighed. "Yes, Snotlout. I personally think they're good."

Toothless however didn't seem to agree with his rider, and huffed as he turned his head away.

Snotlout snickered, "even your dragon doesn't agree with you."

Hiccup shrugged and popped a couple more into his mouth. Oswald had once given him some when he visited and Hiccup had liked them ever since. They were tasty, though hard to get. It was pure luck that Yohan had some when he stopped in on the edge. Chicken walked up to the small box, and Hiccup with a raised eyebrow held one out. She grabbed it and gulped it down but before long she had glared at him and regurgitated it back up.

Tuff ran over to his pet/child – "Ohhh Chicken! I'm sorry that awful Hiccup fed you those awful berries!" With that he picked chicken up and took her to have some grains.

"Well. Wow. More for me I suppose."

"That's weird. I though chickens liked berries." Astrid said.

From across the room Tuff shook his head, "Chicken has a very refined pallet. Obviously those are not gourmet berries!"

Dinner was served and with it the last of the small box was gone. Each of them sat at the table, and behind them a barrel of fresh fish had been tipped on the deck outside where the dragons were eating.

"So what's the game plan for tomorrow?" Astrid asked.

Fish paused in eating, "well – when I was out for patrol today, I saw a flock of dragons going across the Dirkire strait. I was thinking we might check it out – it could be a new migration route… Though if it's not…"

"Then it might be a human disturbance…" Hiccup finished.

"Dragon hunters…" Astrid agreed.

Strangely the dragon hunters had been fairly quiet the past month or so, so the riders had been on edge waiting to see what their next move was.

Hiccup nodded as he pushed some of his dinner around. "So then I guess we'll have to check that out tomorrow. I also saw a string of new islands to the east – so if nothing is wrong with that flock I'll probably head out that direction for the afternoon."

"I wanted to check on the Gronkel island – make sure they aren't being bothered by anyone again."

"I had plans to train mostly." Astrid said unsurprisingly. She turned to the last three, "and I suppose you plan to do some stupid pranks or something."

Tuff leaned to his twin and whispered, "how'd she know?"

"Don't ask me I'm way better at keeping secrets than you."

Astrid rolled her eyes – "you meatheads are always planning something either stupid or destructive."

Snotlout sat back smirking with his arms folded, "see what she thinks of you guys."

"I include you in that count Snotlout."

"What?!" Snotlout waved a hand in a circle in front of his face, "this could never be in the same league as _those_ meatheads!"

Astrid raised an amused eyebrow at the Jorgenson.

It was as this was going on that a choking cough broke through the commonplace dinner conversation.

Everyone turned to the source of the noise and to their horror they found Hiccup bent over with a hand clutching at his throat.

Astrid, who was sitting beside him was the first to spring into action grabbing his shoulders and trying to figure out what was wrong.

"I think he must be choking on something!" Fish exclaimed, "oh Thor, oh Thor!"

A weak shake however dashed those hopes and Hiccup managed to lock a silent gaze with his cousin.

"What can I do about it?!" Snotlout yelled, just as panicked as the others. Then it suddenly dawned on him what was going on. "Oh – right…" mind trying to pick out the source and follow the symptoms finally his eyes zeroed in on the one thing that could have possibly introduced poison to his cousin. He rushed to the other side of the table and picked up the box. Inside was small amounts of residue from the berries and likely whatever poison they had been coated with.

He took a finger and scratched a bit off while beside him pandemonium took hold as Hiccup was less and less able to breath.

Fairly certain he knew what the poison was he ran to toothless' saddle which was leaning against the wall, and which also had a treatment kit, since Snotlout's was in his hut and that was much to far for the situation, and grabbed it out rushing back to the table.

"Lets see… Anti-inflammatory concoction, followed by a solid antidote to eradicate the bulk of the poison…" he muttered to himself.

"Poison?!" Fish exclaimed somehow managing to panic even more.

"Shut up Fishlegs! I have to concentrate!" He mixed several ingredients together in an oil and without much care shoved Fishlegs and Ruffnut out of his way to administer it. At this point Hiccup's lips had a pale blue tinge to them and he didn't seem to be breathing.

"Come on Hiccup!" Snotlout yelled pouring the pale oily liquid into his mouth and forcing him to swallow as much as he could which wasn't much.

"Snotlout what was that? I don't get it – what's going on?" Astrid asked, staring down worriedly at her boyfriend.

"Hiccup was poisoned Astrid." Snotlout explained briefly, before getting up to make the solid neutralizer.

"And what was that you gave him – was it supposed to help?! He's still not-!"

Astrid's words were cut off by a tiny spluttering gasp which was released and grew quickly into breathing.

"You owe me eight life debts now." Snotlout said.

"No," Hiccup croaked, "I've saved your life wa-aaaay more times than that."

Hiccup shifted trying to sit up and with Astrid's help he managed to get into a sitting position.

"Errrr…. What just happened…?" Tuff asked, looking about as confused as the other felt.

"Poison." Snotlout answered, adding a final purple power to the mix and then encasing it in a grass fiber capsule.

Astrid cursed, "the dragon hunters! It had to be them!"

"Not necessarily… There are a lot of people who probably want me dead. Enemy tribes for one."

"But who else would want to do it out here?" Fishlegs asked.

"Again, a lot of people. I mean this isn't the first time." Hiccup answered.

Snotlout held out the edible poultice capsule out and Hiccup made a face as he smelled it. "What in thor's name did you put in this?"

"Do you really want to know?"

Hiccup apparently didn't and gulped it down before draining the glass of water provided to him.

"So this has happened before…?" Fish asked tentatively.

"Yep. Apparently, a lot of people want to kill him. I mean this has got to be – what the fifteenth assassination attempt in the last four years."

"Seriously?! How did w not know?!"

Hiccup shrugged, "it's not generally made public knowledge when someone tries to kill an heir. It just gives ideas to other enemies. Anyways I think I'm good now. Luckily the council thought it was a good idea to put Snotlout and I together in classes with Gothi for fifteen miserable weeks when we were ten. Personally, I think it was a miserable for her as it was for us."

"But how would someone know you liked those?" Astrid asked, nodding to the empty box.

"Who knows." Hiccup said, though something niggled at him. It wasn't all that common a knowledge.

"Well, anyways – don't get poisoned till we make a stop by Burke again otherwise I think you're dead." Snotlout said showing him the nearly empty kit.

"Thanks." Hiccup said with a deadpan.

"Hey I've done my good deed for the day. It's your job to notice stuff like this before you almost die."

"Anyways…" Fish interrupted, "I guess we'll just have to keep an eye out…"

"Yeah, at least we know now." Astrid said, looking at Hiccup with a raised eyebrow.

It would be a week later when the dragon hunters reported the decimation of one of their camps that Yohan would curse the Burkian heir.

YAY! I finished something! I'm not particularly pleased with this chapter – but I think it will do for now. I may edit it to improve it later but for now I think we're good. I hope you enjoyed this story which is over two years in the making! (That tells you my writing pace! XD)


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